I still remember that game, Nazmul and some sprightly fielding reduced Sri Lanka to 6-5 - I believe this the worst ever start by a victorious team in ODI history - in pursuit of a modest 140-ish target on a minefield of a pitch at Mirpur. We all know that Rubel, then just a 19 year old rookie, playing his 2nd game, got picked apart by Murali as we suffered a heart-breaking loss in pursuit of consecutive successes against an established side.

Apart from that, I don't remember too many games that could go either way in the dying overs. We did have a game in Pakistan that came down to the final over in 2003.

But since then, we've played a number of tight finishes, and come out on tops in all of them. First was the match in Bristol last summer. Then came three close fought games against NZ, with two of them being real nail-biters. Then the game against Ireland, and of course this one against England. By my count, thats 6 wins from 6-ultra close finish games. Thats a pretty good streak. Especially when established sides have all choked at one point this World Cup (SA v Eng, Eng v India/BD, India v Eng). South Africa in particular have choked at least 3 times this year (vs Pak in UAE, vs India at home, vs Eng a few days ago).

Just thought I'd point it out. Its obvious, but we're on a 6 streak game winning streak in this regard.

Well, to be honest, I think that when closing out matches during clutch situations, we've been exceptional. This is one aspect of the game where you wouldn't think we would excel too much as playing in the clutch and being good at during close finishes really comes with experience and as of late, we've been playing quite a few of these tight games and more importantly, we've been winning. I think a lot of this credit should be given to our very own Shakib al Hasan as he is as good as can be under pressure. I mean the man looks a different batman, bowler, and most importantly captain when under pressure. But another huge figure in these wins has been our strike bowler, Shafiul Islam, who today added to his match winning performances with a stellar batting performance late in the game. Though there was another game which we did lose in a clutch situation and it took place about a year ago. It was the 2nd ODI in Bangladesh against the Brits when Eoin Morgan singlehandedly took us down I believe by a mighty flourish of strokes late in his innings, ultimately taking over the fresh and new Shafiul Islam.

__________________
Reporter: You could hit the first ball for 4 couldn't you?
Tamim: Ha, I could hit the first ball for 6, that's not a problem.

Originally Posted by Trigger_Tiger
That was Rubel's debut match and it was not Nazmul, it was Rubel who did that brother !

Nope, Rubel's debut match was the previous one (the one that we won against SL). Here the match being referred to is the final that followed and it was Nazmul and Mashrafe who took couple of wickets, and Rubel got leaked by Murali.

Btw there was this close one against West Indies back in '04 which we lost by 1 wicket and I thought that one was pretty heart-breaking. Anyone else remembers that match? West Indies were 9 wickets down with still 11 runs to get and Sir Bashar handed the ball to Rajin Saleh!!! The rest is history.Posted via BC Mobile Edition (iPhone)